


Her Eyes Blue Like Cornflowers

by estellarcia



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game), 七つの大罪 - 鈴木央 | Nanatsu no Taizai | The Seven Deadly Sins - Suzuki Nakaba (Anime & Manga)
Genre: BARELY EDITED IM SO SRY AH-, F/M, I accidentally made a stardew character that resembled elizabeth so now im writing this, I edited the first chapter it had so many errors-, cuz i havent seen alot of stardew valley aus, i dont have a good grasp on her personality so i wouldnt know how to write her, idk TAGS, nadja was alive when elizabeth was adopted here, she still dies here tho ;-; sryy, stardew valley au!!, this fic focuses mostly on melizabethh, too lazy to tag anything else
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:01:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21799564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/estellarcia/pseuds/estellarcia
Summary: Maybe it was just him.Today the air was a little more crisp and fresh, the breeze felt sweeter against his skin, the sunlight feeling a little more gentle and welcoming. Then he saw her.Stardew Valley AU!!
Relationships: Baltra Liones & Elizabeth Liones, Ban/Elaine (Nanatsu no Taizai), Diane & Elizabeth Liones, Diane/Fairy King Harlequin, Elizabeth Liones & Margaret Liones & Veronica Liones, Elizabeth Liones & Meliodas, Elizabeth Liones/Meliodas, Gowther/Nadja Liones
Comments: 23
Kudos: 38





	1. So it Begins

“If that’s what you truly wish for, Ellie…” Baltra sighs. Elizabeth hesitates, then hugs her father.

“I’m sorry, I just… I can’t take this life of constant office work, daddy… Sister Veronica and Margaret seem happy there too...” Elizabeth sniffles. Baltra pulls away and shakes his head. He looks at Elizabeth.

"I understand." 

* * *

And that’s how Elizabeth ends up cramped in a bus.

People were in a rush everywhere, kids were screaming with their mothers scrolling through their phones and kids playing catch. The bus driver didn't look like he cared.

Not that she minds too much either, she could use some craziness in her life. She felt giddy, not minding the sticky seat and humid air. She hasn’t seen her sisters since they visited, she was never allowed to visit, even then when her sisters did visit, time spent with them were short due to the job she had. Stardew Valley was far, she liked to watch the moon follow her around as the bus sped to her destination, the city lights only being pinpricks of light flickering before vanishing behind skyscrapers and bridges. 

As she neared her destinstion, she could now see the stars as there wasn’t as much light pollution in the countryside. She’s always wanted to see constellations. Her hands fidgeted with a sapphire blue earring - a gift given to her when she turned 16 from her sister - she was glad she had a seat to herself even though it can fit two people, she just conveniently had too many bags. Socializing wasn’t one of the things she wanted to do right now, she’d probably explode and ramble on and on about how she’s excited to move to a farm, the one her aunt, Nadja, had given to her and her sisters. Her sisters had moved in with different people of the town though, so Elizabeth had the farm to herself.

She’s never tried planting anything before. Anyone can learn, she figures. She loses count of the stars that had started appearing in the onyx sky, only noticing a rather bright star. Learning about space in school was always fun, studying about how many cultures interpreted the stars and their perspectives. It was also cool how they figured out a way to tell the time with monuments. Before she knew it, she dozed off.

* * *

The bus jerks, and Elizabeth startles. She rubs her eyes and looks around. She could see a big sign outside with blocky letters spelling out "NOW IN STARDEW VALLEY - Camelot Town". All sleep in her system suddenly vanishes and she sits up in her seat. The scenery outside the window was mesmerizing. She could hear the birds singing, the grass around the land was greener than she was used to seeing. The view only continues to fuel her excitement, the adrenaline in her giving her strength to carry all her three bags in one swift motion and she rushes out of the bus. What greeted her was a crushing hug by no other than her sister Veronica. Margaret watched with a gentle smile on her face.

"Ellie!!" Veronica squeals and Elizabeth immediately drops her bags to hug her back. Elizabeth pulls away and brushes a strand of loose hair behind her ears. She hopes her nap hadn't made her look too disheveled. Elizabeth immediately notices the cleaner air and the refreshing breeze dancing past her silver tresses. Suddenly becoming self conscious about how sweaty she was from the bus ride, she makes a mental note to shower later. 

"Come this way, Elle. Auntie Nadja's cottage is where you'll be staying." Margaret beckons them over and picks up one of Elizabeth's bags, Veronica doing the same. Elizabeth picks up the last bag on the ground and follows. Her heart felt heavy at the mention of their aunt. 

"What's the name of the farm?" Elizabeth asks curiously, looking around. Veronica taps her chin.

"The Rebirth Gardens." She answers as soon as they arrive. Elizabeth nearly drops her bag, her mouth agape. Margaret and Veronica exchange knowing glances.

"It's so messy- wAAH!" Elizabeth trips on a root of a tree near her, and Margaret barely catches her. Veronica scratches her neck sheepishly and nods.

"Yeah... but hey! The cottage is up here ahead. You can deal with the mess later." She marches on, Margaret and Elizabeth trailing behind. 

The cottage looked aged and had cracks here and there, but it had a welcoming aura. Elizabeth was content. She entered and the inside was as small as she imagined. The furniture was polished and looked almost new. Seeing Elizabeth's expression, Margaret speaks.

"It was very dusty here. We cleaned it for you though, we wouldn't want you coughing like crazy when you got here." Elizabeth almost cries and hugs both of her sisters.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou-"

"Now now- We'll unpack for you, why don't you go and introduce yourself to the townspeople? I'm sure Griamore and Gilthunder would love to meet you!" Veronica ushers Elizabeth out of the cottage and closes the door. Elizabeth stares at the door in front her, dumbfounded. Her sisters must've known she wouldn't let them unpack for her.

No use in arguing, Elizabeth pouts. Biting her cheek, she follows the path leading to the bus stop. She walked into the heart of the town, where people were socializing happily. Elizabeth fidgets with her earring again.

Around her she sees a little shop, and a few houses that were slightly smaller than she was used to seeing. Everyone looked friendly and were all in their own little groups - she doesnt want to bother them.

She looks around and spots a man four inches shorter than her. Elizabeth approaches him, figuring that she might as well introduce herself to him first. He didnt look like he was busy, anyway. The man notices her approach and gives her a friendly smile, although she saw a look of shock wash over his features. It was gone as soon as it had appeared, though. Her heartbeat quickens. 

"Hello! I'm new here... My name's Elizabeth Liones and I now own my aunt's farm over there..." She looks around and points to the direction she came from and he follows her gaze. He turns back to her curiously. She's suddenly more self aware about her awkwardness around people.

"Bummer... I liked exploring there alone in some nights. The name's Meliodas!" He beams at her and she feels her face heat up. "Liones, huh? So you're the one Margaret and Veronica talk about?" Elizabeth startles, not knowing that her sisters would talk about her. She just nods dumbly and he starts walking to a building. Elizabeth follows like a lost puppy, trying to make conversation.

"I... I was wondering if you could give me a tour...?" She practically mumbles but she's sure he heard her anyway. He puts his hands behind his head, relaxed. 

"Sure! I should introduce you to my friends, I'm sure they'd want to see the new person around town. We haven't had someone new in a while. Here's the bar I own, Starboar Saloon!" They stop in front of a small building with a statue of a pig and a star on top. Elizabeth doesn't question it as he leads her inside.

Warm yet cool air greets her and she takes notice of the warm lighting of the building. Seven other people stare at them and she suddenly feels even more shy than ever.

"Elizabeth??" A tall man with baby blue eyes and pastel pink hair approaches her. She nods, giving him a questioning stare. "A-ah, I'm Gilthunder! This guy here is Griamore." A big man behind him waves. Elizabeth stares at them, their faces similar to her but she couldn't place it. "We know your sisters." Gilthunder elaborates, seeing her expression and it hits her. Her sisters had once shown her a picture of them. She gasps.

"Oh! Right! I..." Elizabeth's words die on her lips and stands awkwardly. She was never good at people.

"Yay! Another girl around here! She can be another waitress here too!" A cheery voice behind her exclaims. Elizabeth jumps and turns to the source and sees a girl at least an inch taller than her with brown hair and amethyst eyes. She wore pigtails with an orange dress. The skirt of the dress only reached above her knees, and she couldnt help but notice a red tattoo on her left leg. Elizabeth shakes her hand and smiles.

"My name's Diane, nice to meet ya!" She smiles warmly. Elizabeth was about to respond until a man beside her chimed in.

"Harlequin here, though you can call me king."

"Ban." Pale blue spikey hair. He also had fangs?

"E-escanor." A frail man squeaks.

"Gowther here! You really should be a waitress here." If not for his masculine voice, she would've mistaken him for a girl.

Elizabeth looks around the people around her and looks back at Meliodas. Her heart skips a beat at his expression. He was looking at her with such warmth, one she isnt used to seeing. She already felt like she belonged. She clasps her hands together.

"I-I'd love to be a waitress here... Thank you all for welcoming me here...!" She says happily and sits down on a nearby chair. 

"We have another worker here, but she's probably too busy with experiments..." Meliodas clicks his tongue. Elizabeth, now curious, awaits for him to continue his sentence.

"Her name is Merlin. She's the witch of this town." Ban continues for him and lets out a sigh, the others looked exasperated. She probably gets into crazy experiments, she figures. She pondered for a while before her stomach grumbled, the sound being loud in the mostly quiet bar. She hears snickering and looks up to see the man named Ban shake his head. He slides a plate of food in front of her and her mouth waters at the sight.

"A-are... you sure? I-" she pauses at their encouraging expressions. "Thank you... Really..." 

"Heh, just be thankful Ban's here and you didn't have to taste captain's awful cooking." Diane shudders and everyone except Meliodas laughs. Elizabeth tilts her head in confusion. He crosses his arms and huffs. She assumes he's the one they call captain..

Elizabeth smiles and stuffs herself in content.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDITED!!! I barely proofread my writing and I cringed at the many errors I have made... sorry about that!


	2. Constellations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> im not very confident in my writing atm - also last chapter i forgot to state the name of the town in this AU - instead of pelican town its camelot town cuz the mayor here is gonna be Arthur :D and i also forgot to mention that Elizabeth arrived at a Sunday!
> 
> also merry christmas!

Elizabeth woke up the next morning feeling giddy. 

Her sisters had finished organizing her stuff into the little cottage during the night after she hung out with her new friends. She remembered to thank her sisters, of course. They brushed her off though and told her to notify their father that she had arrived safely as Elizabeth forgot to. She remembers Margaret's disappointed stare as Veronica scolded her. Shaking the memory of yesterday's events she rubs her eyes and sits up to see a little package placed not too far away from her bed. She was sure her sisters got all of her things unpacked? 

Curious, she hauls herself out of bed and kneels in front of the package. The package wasn't much bigger than her head and was fairly light. She shakes it a little, and inspects the sides for any stamps or writing. Nothing. With her brows furrowed in confusion, she grabs scissors resting on her table and opens the package. 

Inside was a little note with neat cursive writing, Elizabeth almost mistook it for being printed. Beside the note was a little pack of seeds - Parsnips.

"Here's a little something to get you started. - Mayor Arthur" How'd this package even get here?

Elizabeth gulps. She forgot that her aunt was a farmer. Luckily she binged lots of farming tutorials and tips before she arrived. She decided on just teaching herself since she didn't have the courage to dumbly ask for help as she told her sisters with confidence that she knew how to at least plant things properly. It was obviously a lie. 

With newfound energy and determination, she quickly changes out of her night gown and puts on clothing she doesn't mind getting dirty. Looking around in her closet, she spots the boots she bought recently and thanks the goddesses she picked out a slightly unattractive pair, as they were going to be covered in mud later. Hastily pulling on some gloves, she grabs the seeds and sets the little box with the note onto a nearby chair and sets off to go outside.

The morning air immediately hits her pale skin and she shivers a little, not used to the freshness of the air compared to the almost suffocating polluted air she's used to in the city. The rising sun's golden rays sink into her skin and she huffs in content. She immediately gets to work and opens her backpack and sets off to get the tools needed in her shed. 

The tools were a lot lighter than she thought, and makes a tiny patch in front of her cottage for the 15 parsnip seeds she received. If she remembered correctly, she also needed fertilizer to get her crops to grow with better quality. Elizabeth stops in her tracks. Did she bring fertilizer? She mentally face palms and drops her water can and runs to the shop she saw when she went to the middle of the town.

Panting, she opens the door to the shop. She looks around the shelves and spots a man behind the cashier. Elizabeth could feel anxiety bubbling up, clawing at her insides as she approaches him, brainstorming for ways to ask if he had any fertilizer. Turns out she didn’t have to talk first however, and she thanks the goddesses for her luck as the man behind the cashier beams up at her.

“Welcome to my shop! You must be the new farmer everyone’s talking about! My name’s Dreyfus. Do you need something?” He gave a friendly smile and Elizabeth sighs in relief. Maybe interacting with new people isn’t so bad, after all.

“Haha yeah… Um… My name’s Elizabeth.. D-do you happen to have any fertilizer here?” She nearly slaps herself for being awkward around people. If he noticed her nervousness, he didn’t point it out. She was thankful for that. He nods and hands her a box with a yellow label. Handing over the amount of money needed she hurriedly exits and runs to her farm and plants the fertilizer as carefully as she could. 

It smelled awful, and she was glad that she didn’t have to make her own fertilizer. Smoothing a thin layer of dirt on top of each bit of fertilizer she plants the parsnip seeds as evenly as she can. Grimacing at how dirty she made the water can handle with her gloves, she waters each parsnip seed generously, making sure they don’t have too much or too little. 

Wiping sweat from her forehead, she realizes she had kept her bangs down the whole time. She let out a grunt of frustration and just decided to shower before sleeping. She really needed to get a hat. Grimy hair suddenly being in the back of her mind, Elizabeth uses her remaining energy to clear out the overgrowth in the land.

* * *

  
  


The sun began to set as Elizabeth started to run out of energy, her movements slowing as she placed her axe beside a tree, being halfway into being chopped all the way through. She had crafted a chest to store all her farming things in, as her backpack wouldn’t be able to handle carrying lots of wood. 

Nearly fainting from exhaustion, Elizabeth slumps down the tree she was cutting and watches the sunset. How did aunt Nadja do this? Her hands were developing calluses from holding onto the handle of her tools and her legs ached from exhaustion. The colors of the sky helped ease her mind, though - with the pinks and oranges blending beautifully with the reds, blues and purples. 

A familiar voice suddenly snapped her out of her trance, and she looked around for the source. Her heart skipped a beat when she found it.

“Yo Elizabeth!” Meliodas greeted her with his usual friendly smile and salute. She got up to greet him, ignoring how her shaky arms and legs were screaming in protest. Wincing as she felt some joints crack, she approaches him.

“Hello! What brings you here?” She responds in a surprisingly cheery voice despite her exhaustion. Meliodas shrugs, and properly looks at her and she suddenly feels self conscious about how sweaty she was right now. 

“You should take a break from all the work you’ve been doing around here! Last time I saw this place there was a lot more weeds and rocks laying around. You’ve done enough today.” He kept his friendly tone but somehow she picked up some concern in his voice. She nods, not knowing how to respond and follows him as he wordlessly leads her somewhere. She has a feeling that it was going to be something common between them, as it also happened yesterday with him leading her to his bar. 

He lead her to the mountains near the cave she heard about, she wasn’t able to explore it yet. She looks around, amazed at the scenery of the lake ahead of them. There were construction workers breaking a giant rock near the mines. She pays no mind to them and just takes in the ever growing darkness as the sun began disappearing. Meliodas stops and he sits down, patting to a spot beside him. She quickly joins him.

They were on a patch of grass near the waters, and Elizabeth notes a big log underwater surrounded by some debris. Suddenly she sees Meliodas lay down with his hands resting behind his head. She decides to do the same, but with her hands resting on her stomach with one of her knees up. Elizabeth looks up at the now dark sky, with stars greeting her with their light. 

“Why Camelot town?” Meliodas suddenly speaks up. Elizabeth jumps a little and ponders over his question. She takes a while to respond, and he patiently awaits for her answer. 

“Well… Life in the city was getting a little suffocating… and…” She started playing with her hands as she tried to put her thoughts into words. “I… kinda just wanted a new start in life, you know? My sisters seemed happy here… and I didn’t want to leave my auntie’s farm untouched forever…” She trails off, distracted by the stars, remembering when she learned about them in school. Meliodas just hums, seemingly deep in thought as well. 

“I remember learning about stars in school… It was really cool to learn about it, but I never really got to see them properly because of all the light pollution. Stars were never really visible in the city.” Meliodas turns to look at her.

“Really? What was life like in the city?”

“Not very interesting, really. People nowadays are more interested in technology rather than socializing, hence why I’m so awkward around people… and…” Blinking rapidly, she tries to shake sleepiness from her. “Did you know that the big dipper isn’t actually a constellation? It’s an example my teacher gave for asterisms… It’s part of the constellation Ursa Major…” As she rambles, he focuses on her instead of the stars above them. He looks back up to the sky as she finished her rambling.

As he was about to speak up, he turns to see Elizabeth snoring softly. He smiles and brushes some of her hair behind her ear. Something about her just seemed to pull him in. He picks her up and heads for her farm.

He’s starting to feel that he’s falling too fast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im sorry that this is short,,, Also if you're confused all the towns people of Pelican Town were replaced by the Seven Deadly Sins characters :3 sorry if i didnt make that clear before ;-;
> 
> In this AU Zaratras was the former mayor but retired, so Arthur replaced him :D 
> 
> I really hope people like the idea of this AU - this is the only stardew valley au of this fandom (that ive seen) i just hope people dont find this idea dumb ;-;


	3. The Community Center

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elizabeth stumbles into an old building.

It’s been almost a week since Elizabeth moved to Camelot Town. Her Parsnips have grown and she was able to sell the best looking ones she had, keeping the rest to herself. Sitting up from her bed, she stretches and rubs the sleep from her eyes as she sighs in content. She still hasn’t gotten used to getting woken up by chirping birds instead of traffic and construction. Standing up abruptly, Elizabeth remembers that her job as a waitress in Meliodas’ pub starts today.

She grimaces at her feet touching her cold hardwood floor, forgetting that she had left the window open. Shivering, she sits up and closes her windows. Changing out of her nightgown, she hastily grabs her water can and heads outside. 

Breathing in the fresh morning air she gets to work, watering the potatoes, cauliflower and bean starters that she had bought the previous day. Watering took a lot more energy than she thought. Blowing away her bangs she wipes her head with her arm and sets the water can on her porch. 

Full of energy despite just finishing her farm work, she marches up to the lake near the mountains, where Meliodas had shown her the other day. Diane and King had apparently just come back from a trip when she arrived, and Diane had shown her the basics when it came to fishing. King was a florist, so he also gave her some tips and tricks when it came to planting, which Elizabeth was very thankful for.

She spots a cozy looking house on her way, and wonders if she has greeted everyone in town. 

Upon arriving, she realizes that the miners have left and the huge boulder she saw when she first came was gone. Not paying it any mind, she takes out Diane’s old worn fishing rod and plops down on a spot beside the lake, sitting cross-legged, setting up the hook with bait and throwing it into the water. Humming to herself, she admires how the light reflects the surface of the water.

A small tiny carp spots her hook and timidly swims towards it, and Elizabeth perks up a little to harshly and the fish started to back away. Elizabeth practically squats, her full attention on the carp as it started to swim back towards her. The tan fish then bites on the hook and pulls with unexpected strength and sends Elizabeth forward, almost into the water. She yelps and stands up, not letting go of the rod and fights back. She’s so focused that she doesn’t hear footsteps behind her and someone calling out her name. 

Elizabeth eventually successfully catches the carp, and starts giggling to herself and bounces on her heels, celebrating her victory. Suddenly someone snickers behind her and she startles, falling into the lake with a scream and the carp taking its chance to flop away from her grasp and back into the water. 

The water is freezing, and chases away every trace of exhaustion in her system. She panics and flails around, trying to find the ground. Her panic ceases when a strong arm brings her back up to the surface and onto a spot on the grass effortlessly. Her bangs covered her eyes completely and she was about to punch whoever had startled her until a gentle calloused hand swept her bangs out of the way and her bright azure eyes meet emerald.

"M-Meliodas-?"

“Yo.” He says and snickers again at her expression. She lets out stuttered apologies while he starts full on laughing, throwing his head back. Huffing out in annoyance, she waits until his laughter dies down.

“Glad you find amusement in my suffering…” She pouts. She hadn’t meant to sound too harsh, but Meliodas didn’t seem to mind. He just shakes his head and leads her to the house she passed by on her way to the mountains. He knocks and Elizabeth suddenly felt anxious, she didn’t want to bother anyone this early in the morning. 

“Lil Gil! You there?” He hollered. Elizabeth nibbled at her lip, anxiety spiking up when the door opens. Luckily what greeted her was her sister Margaret. 

“Mel…? Gil isn’t…” Margaret trails off when she spots Elizabeth beside him, drenched from head to toe. “Elizabeth! I demand an explanation, come on, let’s get you dry before you catch a cold… Mel, you can come in…” She hurriedly escorts Elizabeth inside and Meliodas follows them inside, closing the door behind him. Before they leave Meliodas hands Margaret a change of clothes, and Margaret thanks him before closing the bathroom door. He huffs and goes to the kitchen for something to eat, making himself at home.

In the kitchen, Veronica was reading a book, a croissant in her hand. She spots Meliodas when he comes, and puts down the book.

“Meliodas? What’re you doing here?”

“Elizabeth slipped in the water while fishing, so I quickly brought her here to get something dry.” He states nonchalantly while eyeing the contents of their fridge. “Why are _you_ here?”

“Well, Griamore went to the tavern with Gilthunder and Howzer earlier and I needed to speak to Margaret. Didn't you see them on your way here?” Veronica goes back to looking at her book.

“Oh yeah. Yes, I did.” He hums, and closes the fridge in disinterest. By the time he turns around, he spots Elizabeth with the tavern uniform in the other room, trying to adjust the short skirt in discomfort. “Yo!” He greets and walks towards her, startling her again.

“What is this…outfit…?” She asks and he snickers.

“The tavern uniform. You didn’t forget, did you?”

“O-of course not! It’s just… Why is it so…” Not wanting to hurt his feelings, she trails off and tugs at her skirt again. Meliodas hums, unbothered.

“I see. Would you like a different version?” She quickly nods and he chuckles. “Come, then.” Margaret and Veronica watch as Meliodas leads Elizabeth out.

“Be careful, ‘kay Ellie?” Veronica calls out after them and Elizabeth nods in acknowledgement and waves back at them. Margaret shuts the door and they go back to the bus stop past her farm, walking to the tavern.

“I gotta say, I didn’t think you’d be so clumsy.” Meliodas says suddenly and chuckles when Elizabeth scoffs in response.

“I was very close to punching you, you know.” 

“What stopped you?”

“You-! Well…” Elizabeth was saved from answering his question when she noticed him opening the door to the tavern. Their group of friends greeted them, Diane pulling Elizabeth into a bone crushing hug.

“Hey Ellieeee!!!” She exclaimed and Elizabeth giggled sheepishly. She’s only had her sisters growing up, so she wasn’t very used to having a group of friends. Gilthunder, Howzer and Griamore waved at them, then went back to talking among each other. 

She hadn’t noticed Meliodas go in and out a room with a pile of clothing in his hand until he tapped her shoulder. He offered to let her use his room to change while handing her the clothes, she thanks him and excuses herself to change.

  
She inspects the clothing in her hands, and sees that it's a top and it's one of her favorite shades of blue too - and a white skirt that was a bit longer than the black frilly one she currently wore. She keeps on the same singular stocking and mismatched shoes.  
  


Looking at the mirror, she decides that she very much prefers this outfit rather than the pink and black frilly one. It was a lot less revealing and more comfortable. Neatly folding the other uniform, she leaves it on a stool in the corner of the room and hurriedly exits to join the others.

As expected, being inexperienced and everything she kept messing up orders and tripping everywhere. The patrons didn’t seem to mind, laughing it off and telling her to do her best. Diane didn’t wear the uniform, but she still served since Elizabeth seemed to give up by the time she tripped the fifth time. 

Elizabeth stood at the corner, huffing in exhaustion and frustration, gathering her bangs and sweeping her hair up, messing up her fringe. She couldn’t care less about her ruined hair at the moment though. 

“Hey.” She jumps and faces the source and sees Meliodas walking towards her. He laughs at her expression and stands beside her, leaning on the wall. “What’s with you being so jumpy when I greet you?”

“I-I don’t know… I think I’m just jumpy and clumsy in general…” She admits in defeat, slouching slightly. “I think I should go home, the sun is setting.” Meliodas hums and takes her hand, almost missing the blush that blooms her face. He smirks and leads her outside, announcing their leave to their friends before closing the door behind them.

“Are you still willing to come to work again tomorrow?” He asks, letting go of her hand and walks her back to the farm, this time missing the way Elizabeth’s face fell when he let go.

Elizabeth nods. “Yeah… I guess I’m just out of it today… Don’t worry, I’m resting lots.” She reassured him when Meliodas gave her a look. 

Meliodas hums and opens the door for her once they reach her cottage. She thanks him and watches him leave until he’s out of sight. She goes back outside and checks her mail, remembering that she had forgotten it this morning. 

“Wha…” She reads the letter she gets over and over, not wanting to believe it. The company she worked for was also here in this town? 

She has yet to have a tour of this town, she figures that Meliodas forgot about the tour he promised her when she arrived, and decides to explore herself. She changes into something more comfortable and heads out again. The sun has already set, so she brings a lantern with her. 

She's always liked having walks by herself, it helped clear her mind when she was stressed. The city wasn't very safe during the night though, so she didn't have walks often.

Going past the bus stop, she notices gravel leading somewhere she doesn't recognize. She follows the gravel until it leads her to a fountain surrounded by neatly trimmed bushes. The fountain looked old, and she couldn't see it properly due to how dark it had gotten. She looked around, and saw more land and a fence in the distance. 

Curious, she goes closer and sees a very aged building that looked like it was on the verge of collapsing. She gasps, and gets closer, feeling the rough texture of the wood and peeks through the broken glass, making sure she doesn't step on any broken shards on the ground.

Nothing. Just darkness. Elizabeth gets goosebumps, feeling as though she's in a horror movie and felt like she was being watched. Her instincts were right as someone behind her cleared his throat and she nearly jumped out of her skin. She screams and turns around, throwing her lantern at the source.

"H-Hey! No need to be so violent, miss!" The stranger catches her lantern just barely, and she met his gaze. He was a lot taller than her and had white silky hair, almost identical to her own. He chuckles at her terrified expression.

"No need to be scared, Ms. Liones. I'm Zaratras, the former mayor of this town. Sorry I didn't get to introduce myself earlier. I live by the beach and now write stories whenever I feel like it - oh and did I mention that I absolutely love fish pie?" Elizabeth raises an eyebrow at his rambling in concern, and lets out a breath she didn't realize she was holding when he hands her back her lantern. 

"Nice to meet you… Mr. Zaratras… If you don't mind me asking… Where did you come from?" She asks, mentally high fiving herself for not stuttering.

"Oh, just from your sister Margaret's house over there, yeah I know this town is pretty small once you get used to it..." He points to a path that Elizabeth could barely see in the dark, "I just had a nice cup of tea with her and my son, Gilthunder. Have you met them? Love birds, aren't they?" He gushes. Elizabeth barely gets a word in before he talks again, 

"This old thing used to be thriving with activity. Being the old man I am, I just can't bear to take it down. I promised Joja that I'd sell this when one more person signs up for their membership…" He rambles on, and Elizabeth stiffens at the mention of that damned company.

He wordlessly leads her inside the building, and she felt more anxious with the building collapsing at how creaky the floorboards were but noticed a cute little hut at the corner of the room.

"Mead and his friends play here all the time. They don't seem to mind how worn this building is." Zaratras sighs. Elizabeth was about to respond then she sees a tiny green creature pop out of nowhere and wave at her. She would've cooed at how cute it looked if she wasn't so anxious. She squeals and Zaratras jumps 2 feet away from her.

"W-what's the matter Ms. Liones? You scared me there." He sheepishly scratches his neck and Elizabeth shakes her head.

"I must be tired… I should go…" She shakes her head and tries to forget about her hallucination and moves to leave, Zaratras agreeing and following her.

Before she can take her second step she sees it again and she screams, scaring Zaratras again. He huffs. 

"Maybe there's rats here…?" He hums and they finally get out and Elizabeth felt very uneasy.

He takes his leave and Elizabeth waves him goodbye and goes back to her cozy cottage, not wanting to do anything except accept the warmth of her bed.

She spots a purple envelope at her doorstep with the words "To your rat problem" in neat cursive. With shaky hands, she feels like she's seen enough today and enters her house, setting the envelope on her table and flopping on her bed, falling asleep immediately. 

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> barely proof read! sorry if it's bad... I try to upload but school is just ew. But hey since schools are getting cancelled I was able to get this out :D
> 
> (edit): I changed some things because my grammar is trash ! I plan to update either today or tomorrow !


	4. The Lost Woods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elizabeth meets a slime on her way to Merlin's.

Elizabeth wakes to gentle tapping at her window. She sits up, squinting her eyes and sees that it's raining, the water droplets racing down her window. Groaning, she realizes that she was so exhausted that she didn’t even bother changing out of her clothing that she wore from her adventure last night. Giving herself a reminder to change her bed sheets later, she goes to her closet to look for a rain coat and a skirt to match.

Once she changes, she goes to her night table, where she left the suspicious looking envelope. She timidly opens it with shaking hands and spots a midnight blue letter inside with white letters.

It read:

_ My sources tell me that you’ve been poking around the old community center.  _

_ Why don’t you pay me a visit, darling? _

_ My chambers are west of the forest lake, in the stone tower. I may have information concerning your… ‘rat problem’. _

  * _M. Belialuin, Witch_



Wow. Straight to the point. 

“I may have a stalker… but I’m curious as well…” Elizabeth murmurs to herself, too sleepy to realize how creepy it is that the so called witch of the town knew what she was up to last night. She hastily grabs her brown shoulder bag while putting on her boots and runs outside, forgetting to close the door behind her. She suddenly doesn’t understand why she decided to wear a skirt, getting mud stains and bug bites on her porcelain skin.

On her way she passes by some twigs sticking out of bushes and they scratch her skin as she runs past, but she doesn’t pay any mind as she also passes a little barn on her way. The animals were seeking shelter on a well built roof, and she swears she sees a little girl playing with the animals.

She clutches the letter close to her chest as she runs to the west, not having explored the area yet but trusting that the path the trees seemed to make would lead her to a stone tower. She pauses suddenly, seeing that there's a giant log blocking the path.

“Why is this thing so huge?” Sighing in exasperation, she gets closer and feels the jagged texture of the wood. She admires it’s scars and patterns when suddenly she sees green slime oozing at the side.

Elizabeth shrieks and pulls back, jumping a meter away. The slime was..wiggling? Elizabeth freezes and watches as the slime seems to be trying to escape the tight space between a tree and the giant log. 

It succeeds, as slime from the other side gathers in one area. It forms into a little ball with a stem on top. It also has...eyes? They make eye contact, and Elizabeth refuses to move an inch while looking at this bizarre but adorable creature. A smile seeps into Elizabeth’s face.

“Hello there?” She gives it a little wave. It hops towards her and continues to stare. Elizabeth was about to speak again until it latches onto her leg and she suddenly feels an excruciating stinging on her leg. She screams and tries to shake it off her, but the little slime creature didn’t budge. 

Turning to look at her leg with teary eyes, she sees that her skin under the slime was bright red. She stumbles onto her butt and tries to pry the slime away with her boot. Her fingernails dig into the soil beneath her as the slime fights back against her boot.

She kicks it off successfully, and she bolts, the stinging in her leg increasing. She crumples the letter in her hand in pain as she sprints to a random direction, not looking back in case an army of them would come out. The rain was pouring heavily now, as if it was massaging her shoulders. Margaret will definitely scold her once she comes back home with a cold.

She spots a little patch beside some trees, and notices that some wild plants have been growing. There was also a lake nearby, and a new looking axe that would be an upgrade to her current one resting on the grass beside a tree. Elizabeth doesn’t bother to examine it, not wanting the owner of the axe to think she’d be stealing.

She plucks the wild plants one by one, feeling that they’d be of some use later. The sun would be fully out by now if it weren’t for the depressing clouds covering it, she muses. In the process of putting them in her bag despite being drenched in mud, she hears her name being called in the distance.

Elizabeth stands up at the sound of her name, wincing when her legs wobbled, protesting as they almost gave out, wounds stinging more and her almost collapsing in the process. She sees a familiar mop of blonde hair running towards her. He wore a red shirt and she couldn't help but notice his toned arms and a red tattoo on his left bicep- _ why are you ogling him at a time like this Elizabeth- _

“Elizabeth! What’re you doing here without an umbrella?” Meliodas says with concern heavily in his tone, running towards her with a hand clutching an umbrella. He pulled her closer until his umbrella covered her as well. Elizabeth looks at the ground sheepishly.

“I thought…the rain would subside after a while…”

“Well now you could see that it didn't. You should really go more prepared next time. Yikes. What happened to your leg? Why are you here in the woods by yourself?” He continued to rant and she felt embarrassed. He almost sounded like her sisters when she would do something rash. She looks up to meet his eye. His brows were furrowed and he was biting his cheek, as if he was trying to hold back another wave of questions. 

“Let’s get you to Dr. Dana at the clinic," He says instead, "You need to get that checked. Here, hold this.” He hands her the handle of the umbrella and she timidly takes it.

“Why-waaAAAH!!” She squeals as he picks her up bridal style and sprints out of the woods.

He stays quiet, and she’s not sure if that’s a good thing. Her heart was beating so fast, feeling his own heartbeat at her side. She hasn't realized how cold she was until now and embraces his warmth, resting her head on his shoulder. Her nose brushes his neck and she doesn't notice the way he tenses a bit.

Closing her eyes, she listens to the sound of his feet hitting stone instead of dirt and his slight panting. She hears a door open and felt his chest vibrate with the sound of his voice as he spoke to what sounded like a young woman. His voice almost lulled her to sleep but he then gently shook her awake. He snickers.

"You awake? I'm going to put you down now." She hears him speak and she just hums quietly as he slowly brings her back to her feet. She winces.

She turns to look at a woman at about her height with short blonde hair and glasses. The woman looked back at her, her hazel eyes meeting her azure blue in concern. The woman bows and introduces herself, giving a friendly smile.

"Hello, you must be the newcomer everyone's been chatting about. I'm Sennett, I work here at this clinic. My father is the doctor here. Come, be careful of your legs." She guides Elizabeth to a room, with Meliodas trailing behind. She asks Elizabeth to sit down on a table, and Elizabeth just quietly complies. Meliodas watches her in concern.

“It seems that you’ve run into one of the creatures in the lost woods.” Sennett sighs as she gently inspects Elizabeth’s injuries. She winces at the sight of the scratches and the bug bites.

Sennett got to work and applied some sort of herbal mixture onto Elizabeth's wounds, which surprisingly didn't hurt.

“I’ll go get my father. Stay put, yeah?” Sennett adjusts her glasses and leaves the room. Elizabeth nods.

"So, you didn't quite answer my questions earlier." Meliodas says as soon as Sennett is out of ear shot. 

"You didn't give me time to," Elizabeth was quick to counter, "Why do you care so much anyway?"

"Can't have my waitress injured, can I?" He says, almost too quickly and Elizabeth sighs, not satisfied with his answer but doesn't push. She squirms in her spot. He continues to look at her expectantly, and she huffs in defeat.

"Uh, to answer your questions… I saw a cute little slime creature and I didn't think… it'd attack me," She says sheepishly, "I got a letter yesterday about the old community center from a witch." To prove it, she uncrumples the letter that she's had in her hand for a while and offers it to Meliodas. 

He inspects the letter with a knowing sigh. She doesn't think he could read it anymore due to how soaked it was, but he seemed to know something. He's silent, and she could see the gears turning in his head.

"Merlin," He finally says and she jumps, "You have yet to get introduced to her, right?" At this, Elizabeth nods.

"You know her?"

"Yeah," He nods, "I'll go with you once you get your legs treated. You good with that?" Another nod. 

Before she could say anything else, Sennett comes back with her father. 

"Ah, the newcomer. Ms. Liones, was it? Your sisters come and help around here quite often. I'm Dr. Dana." He introduces himself and she hesitantly shakes his offered hand. She doesn't like how everyone is calling her 'Ms. Liones', but she's too anxious to correct them. 

The doctor gets to work immediately, adding even more herbal mixtures, and this time they stung a bit. Elizabeth notices Meliodas watching from the corner of her eye as he carefully wraps up her wounds. He had her drink medicine, it tasted so awful - it took all of her power to not grimace. Elizabeth felt like a mummy with how much her leg was covered, but still thanked the two profusely. 

Elizabeth's bag was still damp by the time she took it back from Meliodas but at least it wasn't soaking anymore. In no time they take their leave, with Elizabeth's legs feeling numb. She limps awkwardly as they go back towards the forest, and doesn't notice Meliodas' bothered expression.

"Go on my back and I'll carry you to Merlin's. I'll ask her to do some spell to dry us up." Meliodas suggests and Elizabeth doesn't bother to decline, she felt like a marionette with the way she was walking and being on the verge of collapsing. She nods reluctantly and jumps on his back. He may be a good four inches shorter, but he looked pretty strong- _ stop that Elizabeth that's weird to think about. _

He carried her injured legs while she wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her head on his back in exhaustion. Meliodas chuckles softly. They walk in comfortable silence as he leads them to a gray tower.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry that this is so short I had to get the flow of inspiration out when I thought of this while playing stardew... Next chapter will be of the junimos in the community center!


	5. Merlin and the Junimos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elizabeth drinks the essence of the forest.

“I’ll put you down now, okay?” Meliodas says and Elizabeth nods, bouncing a bit in her heels in anticipation. He was about to raise his hand to knock until the door opened itself, as if it was blown by wind. The inside was pitch black, followed by eerie silence. Meliodas and Elizabeth share looks and timidly walk in, hand in hand.

When they take one step in, the room suddenly lights up all around them, candles lighting up one by one. Meliodas' grip on Elizabeth's hand tightens. Elizabeth squints from the sudden light, taking a moment to let her eyes adjust. Her eyes roam around curiously, spotting various glasses with different coloured liquids in each one, books scattered across the floor, seemingly to have fallen from the bookshelves that seemed to take up most of the room, some ripped pages here and there. She eyes the contents in the bookshelves, tall thick books seemingly in alphabetical order with some collecting dust. Her eyes land ahead of her, and sees a circle drawn on the floor with candles surrounding it and a tall slim figure of a woman standing nearby with a cauldron in front of her, a tall hat covering her facial features. 

"Now I may understand Ms. Liones' fascination, but Meliodas? Shouldn't you be used to this?" The figure speaks, her sharp and clipped tone making Elizabeth jump slightly, and only now does she realize that Meliodas hadn’t let go of her hand. She flushes at her discovery but doesn't pull away, instead she eyes the woman curiously. The woman had raven locks hanging loosely down from her hat, framing her face beautifully despite being covered halfway. Elizabeth spots a mole on her cheek and bright pink lipstick painting her lips. From the corner of her eye she sees Meliodas shrug, a blank look in his features as he tucks away his free hand into his pocket. His tattoo catches her eye and she briefly ogles his arm, seeing a red dragon eating its own tail before quickly turning away in shame and embarrassment.

"I guess I don't visit very often." He states nonchalantly. The mysterious woman sighs and hums in agreement, and approaches Elizabeth. 

"Come with me, Ms. Liones. I have something to show you. Don't worry Meliodas, you can stay and watch if you truly wish." She turns and walks to her previous spot and Elizabeth follows wordlessly, reluctantly letting go of Meliodas' hand and stands beside the woman.

"In case you haven't caught on, I'm Merlin. I wrote you the letter that you found last night. My little helper delivered it to you." Elizabeth tilts her head in confusion and opens her mouth to question what she meant by helper when Merlin snaps her fingers, the little apple looking creature Elizabeth had seen the other night appearing before them. She squeals and Merlin silently observes her, amusement flashing in her features before she walks away, Elizabeth watching how elegantly she moves, getting what seemed to be ingredients for the cauldron that had suspicious green liquid bubbling in it.

Her stash of ingredients were organized, completely opposite of the rest of the room where opened books were stacked everywhere, its pages everywhere with several animal parts scattered about. A chandelier hangs above them, it's candlelight twinkling along with the shiny material it was made out of. Elizabeth takes a moment to admire the paintings and furniture around them before she hears shuffling beside her and Merlin now stands half a meter away from her, ingredients in hand. She lifts her head up to reveal her face, and Elizabeth stares as Merlin’s amber eyes lock with hers. She’s beautiful, Elizabeth thinks.

The ingredients that Merlin now held were neatly stuffed into glass bottles and Elizabeth watches in shock and fascination as they float away from her hands almost timidly, gently emptying themselves into the cauldron with a spoon that seemingly came out of nowhere starting to mix the ingredients together. The liquid in the cauldron turns to a dark shade of green, the bubbling getting more intense. 

“I’ve put the ingredients of the forest in this very cauldron; Baby ferm, Moss grum, Caramel-top toadstool. Can you smell it?” Merlin says after the bubbling subsides. Elizabeth pries her gaze away from the dark green liquid and stares at Merlin curiously. “Ingredients...of the forest?” She repeats Merlin’s words timidly. Merlin observes her expression briefly before turning to grab a small brown bowl from a cupboard. She doesn’t use magic to make the bowl float, surprisingly.

“Gotta say, that doesn’t sound very appetizing,” Meliodas comments nonchalantly. Elizabeth turns to his direction and sees him lounging on what looked like a bean bag chair. Elizabeth isn’t sure where he got it from or where he found it, but she doesn’t question it. 

“Be glad you’re not the one consuming it, then.” Merlin replies and hands Elizabeth the brown bowl before turning to Meliodas as he sassily counters her statement. Elizabeth tunes them out and looks down. The bowl felt oddly heavy for its size and Elizabeth inspected the bowl curiously while Merlin and Meliodas bickered in the background. It was wooden, and Elizabeth traced the patterns of the bowl, noticing that it had light scratches. She looks inside and feels around. “Don’t worry, there’s nothing invisible in that bowl. It’s just a plain bowl, if you’re wondering.” Merlin voices Elizabeth’s thoughts and she jumps and brushes her hair behind her ear sheepishly.

“Here. Drink up. Let the essence of the forest permeate your body,” Merlin takes the bowl from Elizabeth’s hands and scoops some of the frothy dark green liquid from the cauldron and hands it to Elizabeth. She grimaces as some of the liquid drips down to her fingers, feeling it's greasy and slimy texture. Elizabeth gulps and turns to Merlin, her expression clearly saying ‘Do I really have to?’ To her horror Merlin nods, her eyes full of amusement. She shakily raises the bowl to her lips, and tries to gulp it all down quickly, feeling the chunky greasy mixture go down her throat. She only gets to a few swallows before she gags, dropping the bowl and collapsing. 

She expects to meet the cold hard ground, but she felt strong gentle arms around her instead. Elizabeth tries to look up to see Meliodas, but all she saw was green and clovers flying around. She blinks, confused, and sees a single tree fade into her vision - no, two, no three?? 

She felt like her leg had fallen asleep but everywhere in her body, seeing green everywhere and swirling in her vision. Rough calloused hands wipe her mouth, and she starts to see other colors again, the green fading away, along with the trees that seemingly came out of nowhere. Elizabeth blinks rapidly, trying to figure out where she was. Striking blonde enters her vision, and her azure blue eyes meet Meliodas’ concerned emerald green. 

“An expected reaction,” Merlin sighs and takes a herb and puts it near Elizabeth, letting its aroma fill her nose. Her nausea goes away almost immediately and Meliodas carefully sits her up, fanning her. “Well, now you’ve gained the power of forest magic… Now you can decipher the true meaning of junimo scrolls.” Merlin says as she walks away back to her cauldron. Meliodas helps Elizabeth find the ground with her feet. She shakily stands and looks around, her hallucinations completely gone. 

“I don’t… really feel any different?” She says. Merlin ushers her and Meliodas to the exit.

“You’ll see once you go and revisit the community center. Our business here is done, there’s no reason for you two to be here anymore. I’ll be going back to my experiments now, if you don’t mind.” Merlin says and shuts the door behind. Them. Elizabeth blinks and sees that Meliodas still had an arm around her waist. She doesn’t pull away.

“Are you okay? I swear your face turned green when you chugged that.” Meliodas teases and Elizabeth flushes.

“I figured that if I drank it all it would be all over quicker… It was like… Drinking medicine…” Elizabeth admits, slightly embarrassed. Meliodas chuckles and pulls away.

“Why don’t we go to the community center tomorrow? You look like you could use some rest today.” Meliodas suggests, and only now Elizabeth realizes how exhausted and heavy her body felt. She nods and lets Meliodas walk her back to her cottage.

* * *

She waves as he walks away, and it took all of her power to not immediately flop onto her bed. Her movements sluggish, she washes up and changes into her clean clothes. She suddenly craved for some salty food, realizing that she hadn't eaten at all throughout the whole day except consuming the disgusting potion Merlin had made. Elizabeth groans out loud, scaring some birds outside as she inspects her fridge for any leftovers. All she could see were sweets and she frowned. 

If she didn’t get any salty food this instant, she swears she would flatline. 

Rubbing her eyes, she grits her jaw in frustration. Boy, was she grumpy when she didn’t get food. She stomps to her kitchen table to sulk before she sees a plate of pasta with a fork resting beside a note. She rushes towards it and reads the note, but not before stuffing her face. Elizabeth could care less on how cold the pasta has gotten.

_ “Knowing you, you’ve probably forgotten to keep track of time in your little adventure to the community center today and didn’t pack anything to eat. What am I going to do with you? Also, before you ask, Zaratras told us about your curiosity of the old community center. I truly hope you don’t get into too much trouble again, Ellie. _

_ We were about to go after you before Margaret noticed Meliodas by your side. What are you doing near the witches tower? We expect some answers tomorrow, got it?? _

_ Veronica” _

Elizabeth would’ve cried tears of joy if not for her pasta stuffed face. She doesn’t know why her sisters still put up with her, but she’s very thankful for their thoughtfulness. She cleans up, her stomach satisfied and full. Turning off her lights, she makes her way to her bed before collapsing and going unconcious almost immediately. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for being so inconsistent with uploading... Inspiration would escape me as soon as I would try to write another chapter... I tried making this chapter longer to make up for not uploading but my last brain cells just didn't cooperate. Barely proof read so forgive me for any grammar errors :(


	6. The Community Center

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hand in hand, they make their way to the building.

Elizabeth wakes up to the sunlight blinding her eyes, and her first instinct is to bury herself. A gentle warm hand stops her, though, and a shadow comes up and shields her eyes from the blinding light, giving her the opportunity to timidly open her eyes. A silhouette stood in front of her, basically glowing because of the light that shone behind them. Her eyes first land on a familiar mop of blonde hair that currently shone golden, striking emerald suddenly catching her attention and she concludes that she is currently face to face with a person, Elizabeth feeling their breath fan her face. Elizabeth blinks once, then twice and her half asleep mind was trying to figure out who this person was in front of her. 

Meliodas snickers, waiting patiently for Elizabeth to decipher her surroundings and who it was that was standing in front of her, basically seeing the gears turning in her head. Elizabeth squints, and as if a light bulb lit up above her head her expression lights up and she shrieks, jumping a foot away from Meliodas, having just realized how close their faces were. She couldn’t help but notice how he smelled like coffee and cinnamon, and she was suddenly tempted to bury herself in his sc- _God why are you like this in the mornings Eli-_

“Meliodas? Why are you here?” She asks instead, hesitantly after a moment of just staring. Meliodas huffs and crosses his arms, clicking his tongue. Elizabeth prepares herself for a scolding. A scolding for what? She couldn’t tell, but it was just written all over his face.

“To wake you up. Do you know what time it is?” He responds. Elizabeth takes a few seconds to ponder, looking out her window. It was already fairly bright outside, the animals that usually visited her farm peeking out from bushes. “It’s the afternoon,” He answers her unspoken question after she was quiet for a while, and Elizabeth took her time processing his words, panic slowly creeping in her expression. Meliodas gives her an expectant look, one of his eyebrows raised. She turns to him and he nods, confirming her unsaid thoughts.

Elizabeth bolts out of bed, with Meliodas narrowly dodging her stumbling, looking like a baby giraffe learning to walk as she goes straight to her mirror, grasping a brush in desperation. She takes her time to look at her reflection. Her silver locks were standing in every direction, bangs up in a cow lick. She looks at her different coloured eyes and quickly brushes her bangs to the right to cover her eye frantically, wondering and hoping that Meliodas hadn’t noticed her amber eye that was currently peeking through her silver strands. She grimaces, wiping a trail of drool from her lips and hastily starts fixing her hair. Meliodas appears behind her, his hands in his pockets as he watches with a smug expression. Her azure eye met emerald, and she had to restrain herself from kicking the smugness on his face. Instead, she just rolls her eyes.

“I see that you still find amusement in my suffering…” She murmurs. Meliodas’ smile widens.

“Hey, you should be thanking me, I cleaned up around here and watered your crops, and top of that I woke you up on time!” He snickers, looking so proud of himself, his fists resting on his hips and Elizabeth stops herself from snickering, wanting to stay irritated at him. 

“Yeah… On time...Right…” Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed as she peered at his reflection beside her in the mirror. She resumed brushing the knots from her silver locks rather aggressively in feigned irritation while Meliodas walked over to the window, peering through the surroundings outside. The birds outside chirped happily, toads running from bush to bush in haste. He pulls the window open to get the fresh air in and pretends to not hear Elizabeth’s protests about the chill air. 

* * *

“Ready to go? Got everything?” 

Elizabeth perks up at his voice and looks towards the exit to see Meliodas waiting at the porch for her, hands in his pockets. She slips on her shoulder bag and pulls on her boots, stumbling clumsily as she runs for the door.

“Yep… At least I think…?” Elizabeth checks one more time, scanning her house before taking a step out. Her hand was immediately engulfed by a slightly smaller warm hand, and Elizabeth couldn’t help but redden at the sudden contact. They make their way to the community center hand in hand. 

“What do you think you’ll find in the community center?” Meliodas asks, not at all fazed by Elizabeth’s expression. His question snaps her out of her trance and she pauses to think. Oh god she hopes that her hand isn't all sweaty and gross. Did she fix her hair enough? Will the townspeople notice how much of a mess she was right now? He glances at her curiously and she realizes that she hasn’t responded and she blush deepens. She clears her throat nervously.

“Um… When I first went in I saw some tablets on the ground and that’s when I saw the little creatures that Merlin showed… Zaratras was with me that night and didn’t see them, and thought it was just rats…” Elizabeth explains, and Meliodas hums, seemingly satisfied with her answer and doesn’t ask anymore questions. Meliodas still had a firm grip on her hand and Elizabeth doesn’t think he’s planning to let go anytime soon. She swallows.

Eventually they approach the aged building. Elizabeth gulps and walks slightly ahead of Meliodas, pushing the rusty door open reluctantly with shaky timid hands. She grimaces as she continuously stepped on broken glass and creaky floorboards. She leads Meliodas to what she assumed was the crafts room, the room where she found a golden tablet with the intelligible writing from the night where she and Zaratras explored the building. Hesitantly letting go of Meliodas’ hand, she takes the tablet from the ground with clammy hands and flips it over, holding it out in front of her and to her surprise, she was able to read the symbols. 

Meliodas walks beside her and looks at the tablet from her shoulders curiously due to her silence, resting his chin on her shoulder. Elizabeth shivers.

“Can you understand these?” He asks, and Elizabeth pries her gaze away from the tablet and tries to glance over to Meliodas, trying to avoid being too close to his face. She could feel his hot breath tickle her neck.

“Y-yeah, um… I think the potion Merlin made that I ingested gave me the ability to read these…” She reasons, thinking back to how Merlin stated that she would be able to read the junimo scrolls. Meliodas hums and prompts her to read the tablet aloud. Nodding, she takes a deep breath.

“Spring Bundle, Fall Bundle, Winter Bundle and Summer Bundle… It says the ingredients required for these bundles are crops found on the ground in specific seasons… Huh, guess we can only do the spring bundle for now…” Elizabeth reads, mumbling the last part mostly to herself. Meliodas makes a noise of acknowledgement and reaches for the tablet and takes it from Elizabeth’s hands, inspecting the tablet. He scratches his head.

“I think it’s cool that you can decipher these symbols…” He says absentmindedly and Elizabeth flushes, fidgeting with her fingers sheepishly. He then proceeds to carefully place the tablet back onto the ground to where it was before and offers his hand to Elizabeth. Elizabeth blinks, frozen for a bit before hesitantly taking his hand as he silently leads her back out from the community center. She takes a deep breath, taking in the fresh air, relieved to be free from the dusty musk air back in the building behind them.

“So, should we get to picking out the little spring crops laying around?” Elizabeth speaks up first, trying desperately to ignore the fact that he’s been reaching for her hands very frequently, not wanting to think too much about it. Meliodas pauses and glances up at her, placing his free hand into his pocket. Was that a nervous tic of his?

“I think we should do that after the easter egg hunt tomorrow,” He replies and Elizabeth’s eyebrows raise and tilts her head to the side, a puzzled look on her face.

“Easter egg hunt? Tomorrow?” Elizabeth parrots.

“I forgot too, but I checked your mail for you before waking you up and the mayor sent you a notice about it. I don’t usually participate, but it’s entertaining to watch. There are prizes…” He explains, and Elizabeth perks up at the word ‘prizes’.

“Prizes?” She repeats his words again. Meliodas chuckles at her antics and they make their way to his tavern, still hand in hand. “Do you know what the prize is?” She asks excitedly, now bouncing in her every step. Meliodas watches her with a fond expression on his face as she bounced with newfound excitement from hearing about the egg hunt, looking around the town bustling with activity. 

“Gotta find that out for yourself.” Meliodas replies cheekily, and Elizabeth deflates a little and he almost feels bad. Keyword, almost. She immediately turns to face him with a pout, her bangs slightly brushed away at the action to reveal her right eye and Meliodas catches sight of it. Her right eye is mostly amber, like the color of the setting sun with a hint of baby blue. He stares at it mesmerized, now realizing that he’s never seen her right eye properly, having the habit of only focusing on her left eye due to her bangs always being brushed aside to the right. He doesn’t notice that Elizabeth’s lips moved urgently, still hypnotised by her heterochromia orbs. Meliodas snaps out of it when he realizes that she let go of his hand and was shaking him lightly, gripping his shoulders. 

“Meliodas! Are you okay??” She asks, tone full of concern as she notices that his attention was now on her. He scratches his head sheepishly, not wanting to voice his thoughts on her right eye, assuming that she’s not aware that it now peeked through her bangs. He really wanted to ask why she always covered it, was she ashamed of it? He then realizes he hasn’t said anything for a while again, as Elizabeth’s brows burrow further, her expression mixed with fear and concern.

“Yeah I’m okay,” He sighs. “Just a little tired but it’s okay, it’s nothing too serious.” He explains and reassures as her face twists from fear to agitation at his words, not satisfied with his answer but she doesn’t pry any further. She lets his shoulders go, and he instantly misses the warmth of her hands, immediately taking hold of one of them as she brings her arms down. He rushes to his tavern, smirking to himself as he notices how quiet Elizabeth had gotten, now looking at the ground with her face as red as a tomato. 

* * *

Elizabeth then spots a familiar ravenette when she and Meliodas step foot into his tavern, and she stops in her tracks. Merlin was standing by herself, taking tiny sips from a wooden mug she held while leaning on a countertop. Merlin’s golden eyes find her own, flickering to her hand holding Meliodas’ before she signals for her and Meliodas to come to her. Meliodas and Elizabeth exchange glances before letting go of their intertwined hands and making their way to Merlin. 

“Did you pay the junimos a visit in the community center?” Merlin asks, always straight to the point.

“Hello to you too, Merlin,” Meliodas salutes. “And yes, I came with her. She needs to bring them bundles of seasonal crops… something like that.” He states, before hanging a left to greet Ban and to get himself some Vanya Ale. Elizabeth is left to shuffle towards Merlin’s side, awkwardly shifting her weight from one foot to another, trying to desperately find something to say. Merlin carefully observes her actions, taking more sips of her drink. 

“So you were able to read the scrolls. Good to know that my potion worked.” Merlin suddenly speaks up in a condescending tone, and Elizabeth squeaks, flinching a little. She nods frantically, unable to look Merlin in the eye, instead finding the ground and her hands very interesting. “Are you going to go to that egg hunt tomorrow?” She asks, and Elizabeth grows anxious by the minute. How is she supposed to talk to a woman like Merlin? Elizabeth couldn’t help but feel extremely intimidated by her. She frantically nods again.

“Yeah, I’m looking forward to whatever prize is in store…” She practically mumbles, and Merlin hums in acknowledgement. 

“I’d advise that you pay the mine a visit after the event. There’s quite the treasure there, I’ve heard.” Merlin says, taking more sips from the wooden mug wrapped in her fingers. Elizabeth makes a confused noise, and thinks back to the cave looking area that the miners were clearing when she first moved. Come to think of it, she hasn’t checked that area out yet since she forgot that the miners were already done with their business there. 

“Maybe I will…” Elizabeth hums to herself, lost in thought before she feels a familiar hand on her shoulder. She looks up to see that Merlin was no longer in the tavern, and Meliodas stood in front of her, a light blush painting his cheeks. Probably from the alcohol he drank with Ban, she figures. “Yeah?”  
  


“You’ve been spacing out a lot today. Are you sure you got enough sleep yesterday?” He asks, brows furrowed in worry. Elizabeth’s eyes widen and she nods.

“Yeah, maybe I haven’t eaten yet. I’ll pick up some ingredients from Dreyfus on my way home and I’ll make sure to sleep lots.” She reassures and he retracts his hand from her to put them in his pockets. He nods.

“Sounds good. Be safe on your way, alright? I gotta clean up around here,” He says as he looks around the mess in his tavern. He sighs disapprovingly and shakes his head, clicking his tongue. “Jeez I should really put Gowther in charge next time… Okay, better rest up for the Easter Egg hunt tomorrow, it’s starting at 9 AM.” He says as he leads her to the exit. Elizabeth thanks him for keeping her company and his hospitality before going on her way.

She pulls out her trusty reusable bags that she stored in her shoulder bag and enters Dreyfus’ store, quickly picking out ingredients for her special soup. Dreyfus looks up and greets her as he finishes with a customer, and she greets him back, putting her items on the counter and patiently waiting as he scanned her items. Elizabeth liked to think that her anxiety around people was lessening, and she gave herself a pat on the back mentally. 

Paying for her stuff, she leaves, rushing to get home so she could rest her aching legs. The sun began to set, and her silver tresses danced with the wind as she ran back to her farm, not wanting to be outside once the darkness of the night seeped in. As she enters her cozy cottage, she takes a moment to lean on her door and brush her bangs away, hand on her chest trying to calm her beating heart. Was what Meliodas up to holding her hand so much today? Not wanting to think too much of it, she tries to ignore her growing unfamiliar feelings and suppresses them down, going to her kitchen to make her special soup.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating despite being in quarantine, I've got a bad case of writers block :( I tried making this chapter a lot longer than usual, making this about a thousand words longer but I don't that does much to make up for not updating in a while..... Sorry :(


	7. The Easter Egg Hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Words evaded her as she stood there, gaping like a fish pathetically. The man didn’t seem bothered nor fazed, as he offered his hand to shake.
> 
> “I’m Arthur. I’m the new mayor for this town! Have you met the previous mayor yet? He told me he’s seen you, so I guess you shouldn’t answer that question, sorry,” He speaks quickly, scratching his neck with his other hand. 
> 
> Elizabeth short circuits.

Meliodas comes to pick Elizabeth up from her farm a little past 9 AM, not at all surprised when he’s greeted with the sight of Elizabeth squatting, heavily concentrated in watering her crops as evenly as she could. He chuckles loud enough to startle her and she yelps, hands losing grip of her can causing her can to slip from her grasp and roll to the grass, its contents spilling out. In the process she falls down onto the ground landing on her bum, letting out a squeak and rubbing at her lower back in pain. She whips her head to his direction, glaring daggers while he watches the scene unfold with an amused and concerned expression on his face.

Her heart skips a beat, his emerald gaze never failing to fluster her. Her glare falters as his scent of booze and cinnamon fills her senses, making her feel like putty.

The scent of dew and soil of her farm that she was used to grew fainter as he approached Elizabeth, offering his hand to help her up as he neared. She huffs in annoyance, swatting his hand away to move and get up herself, proceeding to dust dirt off her clothing. He scratches his neck sheepishly.

Well, at least he had the decency to look a little bit guilty for startling her. He opens his mouth to speak, but she beats him to it as she looks up to meet his eye after fixing her skirt.

“So, what do I owe the pleasure?” Elizabeth asks sarcastically, followed by a terrible british accent. Guess she’s just very snarky in the mornings. Her remark elicits a snort from his lips and he places his hands into his pockets absentmindedly, shifting his weight from one foot to another. Her eyes curiously follow his movements, eyes flickering to his feet, noticing his sudden sulking posture. Elizabeth looks back to him in question as he remains silent, confusion written on her face. He’s definitely planning something. His lips twitch, fighting back a smile.

“I was wondering-”   
  
“No, tell me why you decided to interrupt me first,” Elizabeth butts in, tapping her foot impatiently.

“Well, if you’re so against coming to the Egg Hunt with me…” Meliodas drawls with a whiny tone, slouching even more as he grudgingly walks back to the town. Shoot, didn’t he tell her about that after she excitedly asked him to elaborate last night? Elizabeth’s eyes widen and she reaches for his shoulder without taking a step forward, an easy feat since he purposely walked as slow as a sloth. She pulls him to her to try winning back his attention before he turns around quickly, his posture back to normal, a wide grin plastered on his face. She pauses and narrows her eyes at his sudden change of demeanour.

“Yes?” He prompts enthusiastically in a cheerful tone. Elizabeth refrains from rolling her eyes at his antics, wanting to slap herself for falling for his lousy acting so easily. She decides to go along, biting her cheek as she thinks about a comeback.

“I… completely forgot about the event today… I promise I’ll come with you if you wait for me to change out of my dirty farm clothes, okay?” She negotiates with him, speaking as if she was speaking to a child. She rests her free hand on her knee and she crouches slightly, getting her eye level to be lower than his. Elizabeth bites her tongue to prevent herself from smiling, determined to keep her remorseful expression on when Meliodas frowns, clearly bothered with how she was treating him. He smacks her hand away from his shoulder and scoffs, crossing his arms in annoyance.

Oh my god, was he genuinely offended? 

“I’ll give you 10 minutes,” He looks away dismissively, looking like a kicked puppy. Her heart sinks.  _ Great, Elizabeth, great idea to joke about something he may be insecure about, why don’t you step on some bunnies while you’re at it?  _ Retort caught in her throat she scurried away to her cottage, catching a faint “I’m only a few inches shorter…” from him. Biting her lip in shame, she changes out of her dirty clothing in haste and grabs her shoulder bag on her way back out.

She spots a mess of blonde in her peripheral and sees him sitting on the steps of her porch, head resting on his hand. Hearing her approach he stands immediately and looks at her with a soft smile, offering his hand. Confusion written all over her face, she hesitantly takes his hand. He leads her to the town without a word, and Elizabeth kicks some rocks on the way, trying to find a way to apologize. She knew she tended to be more short tempered and an overall jerk in the mornings. Before she could get a word in the sight that greets her when they arrive draws out a gasp from her, words at the tip of her tongue withering.

There were pastel coloured balloons everywhere, a cardboard cut out of a human sized bunny holding a basket of easter eggs stood near the middle, its face cut out so people could look like they’re the bunny. There were many people in attendance already, in their own friend groups conversing happily.

“Hey! You’re the new girl!” An unfamiliar boyish voice catches her attention. She turns towards the source and  _ oh. _

The man that stood before her was  _ pretty.  _ He looked like he was about her age, his ginger locks framing his face perfectly, faint freckles adorning his cheeks. Excitement shone in his amethyst eyes and she could basically see them twinkling as he stared back at her with a friendly smile. He was just a few inches taller than her, but his broad shoulders made her feel like a mouse looking up at him. He wasn’t her type but she can definitely appreciate pretty boys. 

Words evaded her as she stood there, gaping like a fish pathetically. The man didn’t seem bothered nor fazed, as he offered his hand to shake.

“I’m Arthur. I’m the new mayor for this town! Have you met the previous mayor yet? He told me he’s seen you, so I guess you shouldn’t answer that question, sorry,” He speaks quickly, scratching his neck with his other hand. 

Elizabeth short circuits.

“I- nice- um- I, yes…” She says brilliantly, her face growing warm as she desperately fumbles for words and she could tell that she’s probably as red as a tomato right now. His large hand engulfed hers completely and he shakes her hand rather aggressively. If she was in a cartoon she would imagine herself being thrown like a ragdoll as they shake hands.

“It was nice meeting you, Ms. Liones!” Ah. She still hates being called that, but she lacks the brain cells to correct him at the moment. He lets go and waves her goodbye, still completely unfazed by her lack of response. Dumbfounded, her hand remains raised midair and she shakes her head, turning to her side. She blinks, noticing that Meliodas no longer stood beside her and she scans her surroundings in panic, not wanting to be left alone in a social event. Her azure eyes immediately catch onto his blonde mop of hair, and she observes as he animatedly converses with Ban and King beside him.

She runs to him, about to wave to get his attention before being stopped by a fierce back hug. Elizabeth squeaks, watching as chocolate brown locks fall onto her shoulders as the person behind her snuggles their face at the back of her head. Alarmed, she takes a peek of who it was and is relieved at the sight of Diane smiling back at her gleefully.

“Elizabeth!!!!! You came!! Thank god, I was dying not being able to talk with another girl here!” She rambles before letting go, allowing Elizabeth to properly turn around and face her.

“Diane! You scared me,” Elizabeth laughs sheepishly, finally able to speak properly. She rests her hand on her chest to calm her racing heart. Oh was she glad that it was Diane and not some creep. Diane snorts knowingly, her striking violet eyes twinkling in mirth.

“Sorry! Anyway, I’ve remained unbeaten when it comes to hunting these darn eggs. Zaratras always hide them in the same place every year! I wonder if Arthur decided to hide them in different places this year,” Diane says absentmindedly and curls a strand of her hair, bringing one of her pigtails closer to her face. Elizabeth smirks and puts a hand on her hip, raising an eyebrow in a condescending manner. Surprise glosses over Diane’s features.

“Maybe I’ll be the one to beat you this year, then,” Elizabeth challenges, and a smile tugs at Diane’s lips at her tone, and she furrows her brows. Honestly, she doesn’t know how she suddenly got competitive, she guesses Diane’s energy is a huge influence.

“Oh yeah? We’ll see about that,” Diane retorts, before skipping away to a spaced out King. As she approaches, he seems to have snapped out of it, face turning red instantly. Elizabeth turns back to see Meliodas now chatting with Ban. King must’ve slipped away while she talked with Diane. She approaches the duo.

“I’m telling ya~,  _ I’m _ the one at 328-” Ban whines like a child, before being cut off with Gowther approaching them, making an entrance for himself rather obnoxiously. He wore the same pink frilly crop top uniform Meliodas gave Elizabeth at first all those days ago and posed in front of them in a silly stance, hips bent to one side as his upper body leaned to the opposite, saluting them.

“Hey. Why aren’t I one of-”   
  
“Disapproved.” Meliodas and Ban say in unison before Gowther could finish. Elizabeth watches in confusion. Gowther closes his eyes and juts his bottom lip in a pout in irritation as he puts his hands on his hips, back arched slightly in a sassy manner.

“I have a question. How did you get this weird habit of cross dressing?” Ban raises his chin as he spoke, his back in its usual slouch. Gowther lets out a huff, amber eyes full of determination and ready to argue.

“Well actually, when I-” Elizabeth tunes out the conversation as she notices that Meliodas is now looking at her expectantly, and her heart rate picks up pace being under his piercing gaze. She rocks back and forth, shifting her weight from her toes to her heels, suddenly finding the rubble beneath her very interesting.

“Do you know when the egg hunt starts?” She manages without stuttering, avoiding his eyes. She hates the tension she now felt around him, but is surprised when Meliodas puts on a wide grin, taking hold of her hand instantly and guiding her back to where she spoke with Arthur.

“I heard you were planning on taking Diane on with this year’s egg hunt, she’s the only one that really takes this event seriously, save for the little children here of course.” Meliodas laughs, and Elizabeth listens quietly. Has he forgotten about earlier? Or did he just play along and wasn’t actually offended? Question after question fills her mind and her anxiety spikes. Shaking her head trying not to overthink it, Elizabeth hums in acknowledgement.

“I don’t know what came over me honestly, I don’t even know what the prize is yet.” She admits shamefully, earning a hearty chuckle from him. 

“Alright everyone! It seems like everybody is here, come gather around!” Arthur announces, and everyone shuffles closer together, people wrapping up their conversations before giving Arthur their silence. The children that clung to their mothers however run up to Arthur and excitedly ask him to start the egg hunt already.

“Calm down now, kiddos. Wouldn’t want to waste all your energy right now would we? Gotta save that energy to find eggs!” He says, and the children cheer before hushing themselves and quieting down. Beside her, Meliodas snickers at Arthur’s overwhelmed expression. A smile makes its way to Elizabeth’s lips.

She tunes out the things Arthur announces as Meliodas whispers to her ear, “It’s his first year of being mayor around here, so far I’d say he’s doing pretty well.” He says cheekily, and Elizabeth giggles, nodding her head in agreement. 

“Alright… Let the Egg hunt… Begin!” He says, and Gowther blows a whistle beside him. Elizabeth was not prepared for the kids to scream and run past her. If she was their size she’s sure she’d get trampled on. Getting to the task, she runs to the opposite way the kids went, hearing a faint snicker behind her as she leaves.

Grabbing a well made basket provided she immediately spots a colourful egg behind a bush. She hastily grabs it and scans immediately for bright eggs. She’s thankful that she hasn’t run into any little kids so far.

  
  
  


She didn’t actually listen to how long the hunt lasted for when Arthur explained the instructions, so she gets as many as she can, finding them behind houses, poles and near the sewer exit. So far she’s grabbed 8 eggs. Frantically inspecting bushes and piles of rock, she finds a bright green egg and reaches for it before hearing a whistle blow. Huffing, she places the egg snug in the basket before making her way back. She spots Diane running towards her.

“Elizabeth! How many did y- wow you found a lot.” Diane says, pointing at her basket. Elizabeth scratches her neck. “Wow, I only got 5! You got like.…..9!” Diane counts, and Elizabeth couldn’t help but shrug nonchalantly.

“These eggs stand out since they’re so bright. Beginners luck, maybe?” She sasses, and Diane smiles.

“Well, there’s always next year. I’ll definitely beat you then.” Diane says before running to the center. Elizabeth follows. Meliodas stood beside Ban and spotted her, eyeing her basket before giving her an extremely amused expression. She reddens before turning to Arthur. They make eye contact, and he blinks at the amount of eggs in her basket.

“Woah, didn’t think you’d take this as seriously as Diane! A worthy rival of hers indeed,” He laughs, and Elizabeth chuckles with him, wordlessly handing him her basket.

“Sorry kiddos, seems like the winner is Ms. Liones here for this year's egg hunt!” He announces proudly, and the other townspeople clap albeit awkwardly. Elizabeth has never felt more awkward and embarrassed in her life, she’d be glad if the floor could just swallow her up and cease her from existence. Arthur reaches behind him and hands her a beautiful straw hat with a white bow tied around it, and it makes her embarrassment worth it.

Taking it from his hands in awe, she’s glad that she could now shield herself from the sun’s unforgiving heat when she worked. Bowing politely, she wordlessly runs to Meliodas, who was chatting with Diane.

“You guys are just boring, everyone here was a child at some point! Just because you’re older doesn’t mean that you have to act like it!” She could hear Diane argue as she approached. Meliodas looked like he was about to retort before noticing her, a teasing smile playing on his lips.

“Like your present, Ellie?” He says teasingly and Elizabeth just rolls her eyes before smacking him with her hat.

She puts the hat on, thankful to be able to see without the bright sun blinding her. They all converse happily until the sky turned a marigold orange before parting ways, Elizabeth’s hand intertwined with Meliodas’ as he leads her to a stand that was set up for the festival.

“Why are we going here?” She asks curiously. 

“If I remember correctly, they sell strawberry seeds here only during the festival and they sell for alot, so it’s probably good to-” He says before she dashes for the stand, buying about 15 packets of strawberry seeds from a confused merchant standing behind the stand. Running back to Meliodas, she locks their hands again.

“Yeah?” She prompts, having not listened to the last bits he said. He shakes his head fondly, and walks her back to her farm.

“I could help you plant those seeds before I close up the tavern- here give me 10 of those packe- hey don’t look at me like that, how would I lose them when we’re so close to your farm already?” He asks incredulously and Elizabeth relents, handing him 10 packets. They near her farm, hands still clasped together and they crouch down beside a group of growing parsnips.

“They were expensive, you can’t fault me for being cautious.” She responds eventually, letting go of his hand with a light chuckle.

“Hey I’ll have you know that I am completely trustworthy.” He says defensively, digging up a spot to place the strawberry seeds.

“I beg to differ,”

“Have you counted the many times I saved you like the knight in shining armour that I am?” He boasts confidently, earning him a snort from Elizabeth. Reaching for her water can still halfway full; she rolls her eyes fondly as she waters the seeds one by one while simultaneously planting them.

“I wouldn’t call you a knight in shining armour,” She counters, handing Meliodas a handful of fertilizer.

He rips open a packet of strawberry seeds with his teeth. “Why not?” He asks, placing the fertilizer on the ground before placing the seeds in. He gestures for the watering can and Elizabeth hands the can to him.

“I’m not  _ that _ helpless, you know,” She says, opening her last packet of seeds. 

“The people in the tavern would probably say otherwise,” He teases, earning him a swift smack in the head. Laughing, he finishes up and helps water the last seed Elizabeth places.

Huffing, she claps the dirt from her hands. They continuously banter as she puts away her things. The sky was an ominous dark blue by the time they finished up.

Meliodas moves to make his way back to his tavern. Shifting nervously, Elizabeth watches him go.

“Please be careful!” She calls out after him after mustering up the courage to do so. He turns back to smile warmly at her, nodding his head before turning back and walking away.

Elizabeth washes up and is unable to calm her racing heart as she gets ready for bed, dreaming of a certain blonde.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternate summary:  
> Mel is really good at bottling his emotions.
> 
> HELLO I'M SO SORRY I HAVENT UPDATED IN WEEKS I've been really trying to improve my writing... I'm sure my history is just full of questions about synonyms ^^; Anyway, hope you enjoyed!
> 
> HERE'S A PREVIEW OF THE NEXT CHAPTER:
> 
> "You'd need a weapon to stay down there," Ban says, before handing her a rusted sword. Elizabeth inspects it before looking back up at him.
> 
> "Should I come down there with Meliodas?" She asks mostly to herself. Ban shrugs nonchalantly. 
> 
> "That's up to you, princess." He suggests, before exiting the cave. Elizabeth pauses and thinks - no, he's helped her countless times already since she's come here, she should be able to do this herself.
> 
> She descends.

**Author's Note:**

> I will update this lots !! (as much as I can at least)
> 
> I don't write too much so I may be a bit rusty :'D Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
